T.O. DIRECTOR TAKES WILD RIDE WITH THE WOOD-MAN

Toronto director Ron Mann is no stranger to public transportation but never did
he imagine he'd take the ride of his life with Oscar nominated actor Woody
Harrelson.

It all began when Harrelson, who endeared himself to millions of TV viewers as
the affable bartender Woody Boyd on the hit sitcom Cheers, and his brothers
talked about taking a bike trip together. As the siblings were planning the
tour, they decided it would be fun to stop and talk with people along the way
about the issues they felt passionate about.

Harrelson has long been known as one of the America's most vocal supporters of
the environment. He grabbed international headlines when he planted hemp seeds
in Kentucky to protest the state's laws that restrict the use of the plant that
can be used as a valuable fuel and viable paper alternative. In challenging the
state to differentiate between hemp and marijuana, he was arrested, tried and
acquitted and at the same time generated national discussion on the subject.

Harrelson narrated the documentary film Grass, released in 1999, which was
directed by Mann. The two quickly became friends. The Genie award winning
documentary presents a humorous yet - "surprisingly balanced history" of
recreational marijuana use in the late 20th century.

It seemed to make sense to the Harrelson brothers that they have a bus follow
them on their trip and once they came up with a design, they came to the
realization that they wanted to create a completely eco-sustainable vehicle. It
would run on hemp oil instead of petroleum. It would also rely on solar panels
for its power source and its interior would be outfitted with only sustainable
materials. They christened their bicycle trip the Simple Organic Living Tour
a.k.a. the SOLTour. The bus, which they lovingly refer to as The Mothership
became the model for their message.

"Woody was doing a lecture tour. That's how I found out. I read in an article
that he was taking this trip. In a phone conversation with him, I asked if
anyone was documenting the trip. The next thing I knew I was on the bus
fulfilling a rock 'n' roll fantasy," said the 45-year old director in a phone
interview from his Sphinx Productions' downtown Toronto office.

"I stopped a movie I was making at the time and took the side trip. I thought
it was going to be a simple home movie."

Instead, Mann likens his film to "Easy Rider on bicycles" or better yet an
"Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test on Tofu." The one thing he told his crew: "Expect
the unexpected."

Mann shot about 400 hours of film as he followed Harrelson and his "band of
merry hempsters" down the Pacific Coast Highway. His posse included a yoga
instructor, a raw food chef, a hemp-activist, a junk food addict and a college
student who is coerced into dropping everything to jump on the bus. Go Further
as the movie is aptly titled, follows the adventures of this group of friends,
while they try to convince those they encounter that there are alternatives to
our habitual, but environmentally-destructive behaviour.

Go Further has been selected for special presentation at the Toronto
International Film Festival, which runs Sept. 4 to 13. A media screening was
held last week at the Bloor Cinemas at the corner of Bloor and Bathurst.

"I was really a fly on the wall," Mann said. "The people we met really inspired
us. We met musicians and activists along the way. Musicians have always brought
light to a lot of progressive politics."

Great Highs

There were a lot of great highs, said the critically acclaimed director - "no
pun intended." Go Further is being hailed as the next Bowling for Columbine,
which shows there's an audience for a film such as this one, Mann said.

"I'm trying to reach as many people as possible, to open them up to ideas they
might never have thought of," he said.

Steve Clark, who Mann says, stole the show met Harrelson on the set of the hit
sitcom Will & Grace where he is a production assistant. Harrelson had a
guest-starring role on the series and asked his one-time junk food addict
friend to join the SOLTour. Clark is living proof that attitudes and actions
can be changed, and that one person can make a difference.

Go Further plays Sept. 6 at 6:45 p.m. at the Uptown 1 theatre and Saturday,
Sept. 13 at 3:30 p.m. at the Isabel Bader theatre.